Lesser Whitethroat Curruca curruca
Nominate curruca common summer visitor and passage migrant. C.c. blythi (‘Siberian Lesser Whitethroat’) vagrant (LBRC). C.c. halimodendri (Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat) vagrant (BBRC)
This fascinating little warbler is our only summer visitor that migrates on a north-west, south-east axis, passing through the Middle East to reach its wintering grounds south of the Sahara in north-east Africa. Lincolnshire is therefore on the extreme north-west of its range and the BTO Atlas 2007-2011 relative abundance map shows it does particularly well on The Marsh. Its song culminating in a little rattle coming from inside the top of a hedge is a regular feature of a May bike ride along the lanes of Lincolnshire except the top of the Wolds and the southern Fens from which it is absent. Its status appears to have been relatively unchanged in Lincolnshire over the last 50 years and its BBS long term trend in England shows the population has grown a modest 11% since 1994. The Atlas estimated its Lincs population at anywhere between 1,300-4,500 pairs and the APEP4 adjusted estimate for 2016 is 4,000 pairs.